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BIOUNCERTAINTY - ERC Starting Grant no. 805498
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13 April 2022 - Maciej Juzaszek: Precautionary principle as an encroachment on evidence-based law
We have the pleasure to invite you to another research seminar in the ‘BIOUNCERTAINTY’ research project. This week Maciej Juzaszek will give a talk: "Precautionary principle as an encroachment on evidence-based law". The seminar will take place on Wednesday, 13th of April, at 17:30 p.m. in the room 25 of Institute of Philosophy of Jagiellonian University and via MS Teams.
Abstract: The precautionary principle was initially developed in environmental law and then was implemented in other domains, such as public health, food and safety or biotechnology. It also migrated to other disciplines, such as philosophy and became a subject of interest by legal philosophers, philosophers of science or bioethicists.
One of the most widespread formulations of precautionary principles (called the Wingspread Statement, 1998) claims that “[w]hen an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not fully established scientifically”.
It seems to oppose the recent trend of an evidence-based approach to lawmaking and public policies, according to which legislation should be based on the best available scientific evidence and systematically collected data when available.
In my paper, I will look at the precautionary principle from the perspective of ethics of belief and argue that it can be consistent with evidentialism (underlying evidence-based law). Therefore, I will argue that the precautionary principle can be treated as a pragmatic (or even moral) encroachment on justification, supplementing rather than opposing the evidence-based approach.
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